Latest News:

Schools have a Partial Absence Flag reported for WJEC import. We have had 2 schools reporting this problem this morning. They have contacted WJEC who have acknowledged the problem and are issuing replacement EDI files. We’ve spoken to WJEC and they will be re-issuing all affected results files later so schools do not have to request them. Just keep an eye out.

There is an issue with Maths qualifications.

Analysis of Ebacc should take account of the following Maths AS qualifications but does not, as neither the “old” discount code of 2330 nor the “new” discount code of RB1A is taken into account (PRB11239).

Only schools carrying out analysis who have Key Stage 4 students with results for these QANs

How is this being fixed?

The problem can be dealt with via SQL Patch 20983

Please let us know if this applies to you so we can apply the patch.

Edexcel Basedata
Please note that Edexcel/Pearson re-released their basedata yesterday. We recommend that schools download the revised file and refresh the basedata.

New Performance Measures File
We are not happy that the Performance Measure File Version 4 (PMv4) is counting all the correct qualifications towards the eBacc. We need to review the information from the DfE and the code in the file once again to ensure we have got it correct. We now anticipate that PMv4 will be available towards the middle of next week.

IMPORTANT: This version of the Performance Measure File will not affect the import of any results, it is only relevant to the analysis of qualifications that are identified as counting towards the eBacc. Therefore, the download and import of your results on Wednesday next week will not be affected and your analysis of eBacc can take place once all your results are in on Wednesday 19th August.

Exams Organiser Application PatchWhat is the issue?
Where schools are making submission files to awarding organisations, these files, unbeknown to the school, are missing a character in the header of the file. Currently the awarding organisations are manually amending the file so they can process them, but as the season progresses with BTEC Result Files and the November Resits, a permanent fix is required.

Who is affected?
Any school making submission files.

How is this being fixed?
The required fix is a workstation patch that needs to be applied only to a SIMS workstation where Exam Submission Files are created, this is usually only the Exam Officer’s computer.

When will this be available?
The workstation fix is available now, please download it here, password is ztweyxgpfj2h. If you have any problems at all, please ring 01642 535570 or email helpdesk@oneitss.org.uk

That time of the year is approaching. The time of year where most data managers earn their crust and SLT members are hovering at the door, even though you’ve told them to go away and leave you alone. Exam results are here and with it, it’s exam analysis time.Here are some potential quick wins and tips that may help you these pivotal weeks.

Take Extra Care with SIMS!

If you plan on using SIMS to do your exam analysis, make sure Course Manager is set up correctly with all classes linked to the correct courses. Otherwise, your residuals won’t calculate correctly. In addition, make sure the latest performance measures file has been imported (keep a particular eye on this – PI files have been known to be updated after exam results days) and ensure your QAN data is up-to-date. You’ll also need to make sure all the non-EDI grades have been added in manually, too.

SIMS can now do some speculative Progress 8 analysis through its School Report. You’ll need to ensure the KS2 data is put into the aspects used by SIMS to generate a score. I would tread carefully in trusting what the score is entirely but it’s there for you to use.

If you use Assessment Manager 7 to do analysis, make sure your embargo exceptions are set up correctly, otherwise all and sundry may be able to access the results on Wednesday. In previous years, I have found results to appear in AM7 and the embargo rules to be applied but this may not be the case now. Just be cautious. More to the point, double-check whether your painstakingly built templates definitely conform to the DfE guidance!

Pupil Premium

This goes without saying – is your Pupil Premium cohort correct and accurate in your MIS? If not, make sure it is! Use Key to Success and do a UPN search. Otherwise, you can do a FSM Ever 6 search in your MIS. If they come up as true, then you’ll need to ensure they’re marked as PP.

Transition Matrices – Use Them!

The transition matrices released by the DfE are invaluable when it comes to comparing how your students have done against the national picture. KS4 transition matrices are available in the RAISEonline library and there are even transition matrices available for KS5 as well. Transition matrices currently go against 2014 results but it’s still a useful piece of analysis to do. 2015 matrices will hopefully be out by the end of this year.

Free Stuff!

And this is where some free stuff comes in.

You can find some tools to help you do some analysis against transition matrices for KS4 and KS5 here. These are built to be used at my school so they may require some tinkering but you’re welcome to use them. Simply pop in your results into the ‘Actual’ sheets and then you can select your subjects from there through the subject drop-down on the main page. If you want to add extra subjects in, you’ll need to do a bit of extra tinkering.

One other tool is the ALPS download for KS5 results. This will do some analysis for you and give you some headline figures, but will also use the ALPS methodology and give you a potential indication of how your value added could look. It could take a bit of setting up for you to use, particularly as far as getting your KS4 average points, so it may be best to do this once things have settled down somewhat. But the free reports from the software are very useful and if you like the ALPS system you may consider investing in their very detailed reports.

Continuing with KS5, there is the KS5 L3VA ready reckoner that will give you an indication of what your VA score for KS5 could look like once this year’s L3VA is released. Again, this may take a bit of work to populate and use but it should be worth it. Remember: from 2016, one of the KS5 headline figures will be a VA score akin to Progress 8. This VA score will be the same one that features in your L3VA. Therefore, this could be good preparation for you.

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